Hollywood (1989)
by Charles Bukowski
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Okay, having read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as preparation for leaving Greenpoint I picked this up next as prep for arriving in Los Angeles ( Actually we're landing in Laurel Canyon not Hollywood but let's not quibble over this small detail.)
The story of how Bukowski's screenplay Barfly was made into a movie this is a very funny farce with insane Frenchmen and producers making the author look sane by comparison for once. I love behind the scene stories about show business and this one is a st...more
The story of how Bukowski's screenplay Barfly was made into a movie this is a very funny farce with insane Frenchmen and producers making the author look sane by comparison for once. I love behind the scene stories about show business and this one is a st...more
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Read in May, 2008
It is not very often that I read a novel in a single sitting - but that is exactly what I did with this very entertaining trip through the filmmaking process from the eyes of a beloved novelist/poet/horserace aficionado/drunk turned screenwriter. Bukowski's prose is quick witted and extremely entertaining. I was laughing out loud throughout - especially at the thinly veiled references to real people such as Wenner Zergog and Frances Ford Lopalla. His characters are so full of life that it is ...more
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Read in January, 1999
recommends it for:
para quienes no se engañan
Leer a Bukowski puede convertirse en una experiencia que toca los "arrugados límites" que consumen al mundo. La visión de este libro no escapa de la misma que guarda este atípico escritor en el "joint" que representan toda su narrativa y su poética. Hollywood trata de desfigurar el "American Way of Life" de L.A. La desconfianza de Henry Chinaski es extrema... ¿Por qué confiar o guardar ilusiones sobre las luces y las marquesinas de Hollywood? Este libro...more
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
puppets who want to be real boys
Bukowski gets a ton of flack for being a shitty writer and coarse. Yes, he my write 72 pages of eating a girl out, but consider this: there's a part in Hollywood where after Henry has drunken all night he fell to bed next to his lady. With the small semblance of clarity he made sure to turn over and face the window because he knew he snores when he has too much to drink... and he didn't want to wake her up.
I tell it terribly, but within the book, the moment is sweet.
I tell it terribly, but within the book, the moment is sweet.
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The first Bukowski book I ever read and the one that got me hooked on him. This book was the basis for the movie 'Barfly'. Most if not all of his books are heavily autobiographical and center on his character Henry Chinaski. All of Bukowski's tales involve drinking, women, drinking and drinking. Have I mentioned he sometimes writes about drinking? While you are reading him and for a good while after you're going to have a huge urge to go out and get polluted.
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The best thing about this book is its roman a clef aspect. Not just the obvious ones like Mickey Rourke, Barbet Schroeder and Faye Dunaway; but the cameo appearances of David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini and, I think, Sean Penn. There are others I could name, if only I had the will to back through it. Perhaps someone, someday, ought to annotate this novel, save the rest of the trouble.
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buk preaches to the choir re: hollywood phonies, how 'barfly' got made, giving the robot actor who is now gov. of CA a ration of shit at a fancey party, worrying about losing his soul for making purchases to write off on his taxes, etc. ...often hilairious, horrific, trancendent & mundane; his usual dose of truth ...& the see-thru psuedonyms he uses for actors, directors, etc. are a hoot
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Read in September, 2007
Maybe I should have started with Ham On Rye or Run With The Hunted for my first Bukowski. I was bored with Hollywood. The industry-type characters who were supposed to shock and entice the reader didn't capture my attention at all. I wasn't able to live vicariously through this booze-fused adventure.
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I enjoyed this, and you might too if you’re not irritated by the definitively half assed fake named he saddles people with (Identities must be protected!!) throughout. Jean-Luc Modard? Clearly he’s talking about Charo. Frances Ford Lopalla? That’s probably Ronald Reagan. Hilarity ensues.
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I love Bukowski. This one is fun because it is very Hollywood. The people around him become these cartoon characters that smack of L.A. so thoroughly that I lughed through most of it. I have met these people here!! Different faces and clothes but the same. This book is very amusing.
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I heard a lot of good reviews about Hollywood. I'm a fan of Bukowski's poetry, but somehow this novel just didn't hold the magic that his poetry contains.
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
drunks
This is definitely late-in-life Bukoswski - which is not to suggest that its second tier Bukowski - only that it doesn't have as much teeth as his earlier work. Still, it's a nice fictionalization of the his actual writing of the 'Barfly' screenplay.
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I've heard some great things about Bukowski and this was the first one I checked out, for some reason. Well written, but overall I found the story pretty boring, and the ending to be real cheesy. Definitely not going to give up on this guy though.
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Ever seen the movie Barfly? Faye Dnnaway, Mickey Rourke?
Henry Chinaski, played by Mickey, is Charles Bukowski in the movie...
Book is about writing the screenplay for the movie Barfly.
Great insight into Hollywood craziness.
Henry Chinaski, played by Mickey, is Charles Bukowski in the movie...
Book is about writing the screenplay for the movie Barfly.
Great insight into Hollywood craziness.
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back when i was a pretentious 8th grader, i used a passage from this book (the frenchman's rant about his chickens and the people who live under his porch) to fulfill some weird geometry assignment. i need to go home and find that thing.
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Read in January, 1992
The first novel of Buk's that I read. My favorite band at the time, Dogs d'amour cited Buk as an influence. This was his only book in the library. I loved every crazy minute of it. Based after his expierence with the film Barfly.
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Read in February, 2007
This is a thinly-veiled satire of stars and directors who were big at the time Bukowski wrote this. Amusing but excessive, in true Bukowski style. I guarantee you will want to read it with a bottle of wine in the other hand.
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Writing as his alter-ego, Henry Chinaski, Bukowski details the events surrounding his writing of the movie "Barfly." Recommended through a friend of a friend as their favorite of his books, I wasn't too interested.
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Read in August, 2004
I don't remember this book very well, but that might not be the book's fault. Either way, it was the second book I had read by Bukowski, and I still wanted to read more, so that speaks for itself.
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Read in January, 2006
Not the greatest Bukowski, but it's fun to figure out what famous hollywood celebrities he's alluding to. This seems like Bukowski telling it all matter of factly, not as interesting.
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